Thursday, December 27, 2012

15 Underappreciated Albums That Rocked 2012

I can't kvetch much about 2012; pop radio's song-writing improved a bit, some indie-rock got spikier, pop-punk kept its 21st century momentum, dub-step gave us all a genre to crack-wise about and, Hell, I even found a hip-hop album to love. As usual, I make no bones about the narrowness of this old geezer's listening regime, and hence this list reflects my taste for hard-hitting albums that didn't dominate the big name 'Best of the Year' lists.

(All artist name links go directly to a homepage - or some such place - for your listening pleasure.)

1. Masked Intruder: Self-Titled
Wisconsin's Masked Intruder (more HERE) breathe fresh life into pop-punk not only by writing killer songs but also by taking it's favoured lyrical stance to its most extreme conclusion:

2. Jake Bugg: Self-Titled
Bob
Dylan-Lonnie Donnegan-Donovan-Oasis-Tallest Man on Earth. Fill in the
dashes and you've got every review ever written about this young
song-writer from Nottingham, the year's winner of my annual "Dylan-Was-a-Punk' Award.

5. Graham Parker and the Rumour: Three Chords GoodThree Chords Good is a cool, confident comeback from England's Graham Parker and The Rumour (more HERE), who've been estranged for thirty years.

6. Duncan Reid: Little Big Head
Duncan "Kid" Reid from London's seventies pop-punks, The Boys, put out a solo album that expertly re-assembles all the pop, glam and punk elements that made his band so original.

8. The Coup: Sorry to Bother You
Incendiary, rapier-witted but still catchy, Sorry to Bother You by Oakland's The Coup (more HERE) proves that this group's in it for the long haul.

9. Teenage Bottlerocket: Freak Out
Despite being devout members of the Church of the Ramones, Wyoming's Teenage Bottlerocket (more HERE) are always up for a few heretical ideas - sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse - which keeps their albums inspirational.

12. Terry Malts: Self-Titled
As I said about this California band recently (see HERE), "maybe the ever-fickle British press will get Terry Malts synthesis of
various strains of independent guitar rock of the last thirty years
(c86, indie-pop, new wave, pop-punk et al) and anoint them the next
Kaiser Chiefs."

14. John K. Sampson: ProvincialWinnipeg's John K. Sampson(more HERE), also of The Weakerthans (more HERE), returned to working solo on this record, which was full of his usual mix of wistful longing, local history and electric-folk.

15. The Dahlmanns: All Dahled UpFor our 'Anachronism of the Year', the one album from last year that whipped past our porous defenses, it's the a-fuckin'-mazing debut by Norway's Lords of Punk-Powereed-Pop, The Dahlmann's (more HERE) - one of my most listened to albums of the year.

While I'm sure I missed some great albums, that covers almost everything...

Did you hear anything you dug on this list? Did we miss
something that might've fit?Let us know in the COMMENTS section!

Yeah it's interesting that I really like the Yum Yum's but I absolutely adore the Dahlmanns .

And thanks for all your podcasts. I don't always have the time to go through each track but when I do I am ALWAYS rewarded by something like that Undecided By Default (or The Pilgrims) that nobody but you has noticed!

We were told that no one gives a shit about the music we make and there was no point in releasing the cd we just recorded, no one would want it in this country (AUST). I thought fark you , l'll make it a free download on bandcamp and put it out there and l believe "it will eventually reach the ears that will want to hear it". Thank you, you make my heart POP, mwha Maria, The undecided by default.

Maria,Idiots! That album is fantastic (perhaps I'll do a little write-up on it later) and why there are still such narrow-visioned people in a country that's produced as much great rock n' roll as Australia is baffling to me.Keep up the great work and if you ever produce a physical copy of the album let me know!

Thanks for the list, I checked out some of these and my three favourites where the Masked Intruder, Dahlmanns and the Chuck Prophet. I was really blown away by the Masked Intruder album, its bloody brilliant, I don't think there is a bad track on it. My favourite is most probably Heart Shaped Guitar but its close as there are so many. I've got a ticket to go and see them in Manchester (England) in April for a £5, can't wait to see them. Chuck Prophet is also touring the UK in April so will be off to see him as well. Really enjoy the blog - keep up the great work!

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